Shays, chairman of the House Government Reform subcommittee on national security, defended his meeting last week with Ahmed Chalabi, the former Iraqi exile tainted by the since-discredited claims that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction.

"My interest is learning and understanding what is going on in Iraq. I listen to everyone," said Shays, R-4. "I am going to do everything I can to increase my knowledge to do well by our troops and so we can win the war." Congressman Chris Shays of Connecticut served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Fiji in the 1960's.

WASHINGTON — Democrats sharply criticized Rep. Christopher Shays Monday for meeting privately with an Iraqi official with a controversial past.

Shays, chairman of the House Government Reform subcommittee on national security, defended his meeting last week with Ahmed Chalabi, the former Iraqi exile tainted by the since-discredited claims that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction.

"My interest is learning and understanding what is going on in Iraq. I listen to everyone," said Shays, R-4. "I am going to do everything I can to increase my knowledge to do well by our troops and so we can win the war."

Chalabi is deputy prime minister of Iraq and considered a likely candidate to be the next prime minister. Shays met with him and 15 other Iraqis, among them representatives of the Sunni, Shia, Kurd and Turkmen factions.

Westport First Selectwoman Diane Farrell, a Democrat challenging Shays in 2006, said Monday that it was a mistake for the congressman to meet privately with Chalabi.

"The thing I find disturbing is that he [Chalabi] has been a shadowy figure since America entered into this mistaken enterprise," Farrell said. "For Chris [Shays] to have a private meeting with someone under FBI investigation has to leave the public queasy about the sum and substance of the meeting."

Shays defended the meeting, saying it was important to hear from a broad spectrum of Iraqis. He also said that Democrats on his subcommittee had been invited to attend, but declined because they insisted on a public hearing, with Chalabi under oath.

"It would have been a circus," he said.

Shays described Chalabi as a controversial and "very slippery" individual who also is extraordinarily knowledgeable, saying he was able to confirm some leads into the United Nations' oil-for-food scandal that Shays said he plans to follow up on.

As to the Democratic criticism, Shays said that most of it is coming from individuals opposed to the war who have not bothered to go to Iraq or speak with Iraqis.

"Diane Farrell doesn't know the first thing about what is going on in Iraq. I don't think she has been there or met with Sunni, Shia or Kurds. For her to start expressing an opinion just blows me away," Shays said.

Several Democrats in Congress called last week for Chalabi to be brought before the FBI and Senate and House intelligence committees. They want Chalabi to answer charges that, as an Iraqi exile before the war, he deliberately misled the Bush administration about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq and that he leaked U.S. secrets to Iran.

"I don't know if these allegations are true. But if they are, Mr. Chalabi has betrayed U.S. interests, caused incalculable damage to our national security and contributed to the death of more than 2,000 of our troops," said Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., in a letter to Shays.

Waxman, ranking member of the national security subcommittee, urged Shays to bring Chalabi before a public hearing under oath.

Sens. Dick Durbin, D-Ill.; Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass.; and Patrick J. Leahy, D-Vt., said last week that Chalabi should be meeting with FBI investigators rather than Republican officials.

Last year, U.S. forces raided Chalabi's Baghdad office after he was accused of giving U.S. intelligence information to Iran. FBI Assistant Director John Miller said in a prepared statement that there is an open, and active, investigation of whether Chalabi passed U.S. classified information to Iran.

Chalabi has denied the charges.

As to advising the Bush administration that Saddam had arsenals of weapons of mass destruction, Chalabi is unapologetic.

"We are sorry for every American life that was lost in Iraq," he said recently. "As for deliberately misleading, this is an urban myth."

Chalabi delivered a speech last week at the American Enterprise Institute in which he expressed optimism over Iraq's future, but insisted that U.S. troops should remain for now. He also met last week with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and met Monday with Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

When this story was posted in November 2005, this was on the front page of PCOL:

PC establishes awards for top VolunteersGaddi H. Vasquez has established the Kennedy Service Awards to honor the hard work and service of two current Peace Corps Volunteers, two returned Peace Corps Volunteers, and two Peace Corps staff members. The award to currently serving volunteers will be based on a demonstration of impact, sustainability, creativity, and catalytic effect. Submit your nominations by December 9.

Why blurring the lines puts PCVs in dangerWhen the National Call to Service legislation was amended to include Peace Corps in December of 2002, this country had not yet invaded Iraq and was not in prolonged military engagement in the Middle East, as it is now. Read the story of how one volunteer spent three years in captivity from 1976 to 1980 as the hostage of a insurrection group in Colombia in Joanne Marie Roll's op-ed on why this legislation may put soldier/PCVs in the same kind of danger. Latest: Read the ongoing dialog on the subject.

Peace Corps at highest Census in 30 yearsCongratulations to the Peace Corps for the highest number of volunteers in 30 years with 7,810 volunteers serving in 71 posts across the globe. Of course, the President's proposal to double the Peace Corps to 15,000 volunteers made in his State of the Union Address in 2002 is now a long forgotten dream. With deficits in federal spending stretching far off into the future, any substantive increase in the number of volunteers will have to wait for new approaches to funding and for a new administration. Choose your candidate and start working for him or her now.

'Celebration of Service' a major successThe Peace Corps Fund's 'Celebration of Service' on September 29 in New York City was a major success raising approximately $100,000 for third goal activities. In the photo are Maureen Orth (Colombia); John Coyne (Ethiopia) Co-founder of the Peace Corps Fund; Caroline Kennedy; Barbara Anne Ferris (Morocco) Co-founder; Former Senator Harris Wofford, member of the Advisory Board. Read the story here.

PC apologizes for the "Kasama incident"The District Commissioner for the Kasama District in Zambia issued a statement banning Peace Corps activities for ‘grave’ social misconduct and unruly behavior for an incident that occurred on September 24 involving 13 PCVs. Peace Corps said that some of the information put out about the incident was "inflammatory and false." On October 12, Country Director Davy Morris met with community leaders and apologized for the incident. All PCVs involved have been reprimanded, three are returning home, and a ban in the district has since been lifted.

The Peace Corps LibraryPeace Corps Online is proud to announce that the Peace Corps Library is now available online. With over 30,000 index entries in 500 categories, this is the largest collection of Peace Corps related stories in the world. From Acting to Zucchini, you can find hundreds of stories about what RPCVs with your same interests or from your Country of Service are doing today. If you have a web site, support the "Peace Corps Library" and link to it today.

Friends of the Peace Corps 170,000 strong170,000 is a very special number for the RPCV community - it's the number of Volunteers who have served in the Peace Corps since 1961. It's also a number that is very special to us because March is the first month since our founding in January, 2001 that our readership has exceeded 170,000. And while we know that not everyone who comes to this site is an RPCV, they are all "Friends of the Peace Corps." Thanks everybody for making PCOL your source of news for the Returned Volunteer community.

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Story Source: Connecticut Post

This story has been posted in the following forums: : Headlines; Figures; COS - Fiji; Politics; Congress; Iraq

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